Ranji roundup: Retiring Gambhir hits century in final game

Gambhir scores ton to give Delhi take lead

Gautam Gambhir scored the 43rd and final first-class century of his career as Delhi ensured at least three points by virtue of first innings lead against Andhra on the third day of their Group B encounter in the Ranji Trophy in New Delhi on Saturday.

At stumps, Delhi ended the day on 409 for seven in repGautam Gambhir scored the 43rd and final first-class century of his career as Delhi ensured at least three points by virtue of first innings lead against Andhra on the third day of their Group B encounter in the Ranji Trophyly to Andhra's 380 but every other details was of little consequence because of one man playing his last game.

The entire focus was on Gambhir, who is set to hang his boots on Sunday, made it memorable for the 500-odd spectators, who were present at the Feroz Shah Kotla to cheer every run that he scored.

A streaky boundary through the slips took him to 98 and then he square drove pacer Bandaru Ayappa to scamper home for a double to complete one of his more emotionally exhausting hundreds.

While the 100-odd youngsters sporting "Miss you Gauti' T-shirts were overwhelmed with emotion, the former India opener was muted in his celebrations as he didn't even bother to open his helmet.

He added 113 runs for the second wicket with skipper Dhruv Shorey (98) before wicketkeeper Kona Bharat finally held onto an edge with off-spinner Shoaib Mohammed Khan being the bowler.

It wasn't a smooth innings but no one cared for the details like 10 boundaries and 185 balls as he got a generous applause.

The Delhi players gave a him a 'Guard of Honour', the spectators gave a standing ovation and the entire Andhra team came up to congratulate him.

He strode back to pavilion in a matter of fact manner as the interest in the day's proceedings suddenly waned.

However, it was Shorey, Delhi's most consistent batsmen over past two seasons, who played with a lot of confidence, wearing the Andhra attack on a low and slow track.

He batted patiently playing 259 balls, hitting six fours, adding 86 with Vaibhav Rawal (33) after century stand with Gambhir.

After Rawal was dismissed, Dhruv was stuck and left-arm spinner Manish Golamaru trapped him with a short mid-off fielder. Sai Krishna stationed at the particular position took a smart low catch.

But debutant Jonty Sidhu (30), Lalit Yadav (29) and Anuj Rawat (28) took their team past Andhra's first innings score to ensure three points.

Brief Scores:

Delhi 1st Innings 409/7 (Gautam Gambhir 112, Dhruv Shorey 98) vs Andhra 1st innings 380

Maharashtra take lead against Mumbai

Hosts Maharashtra bundled out Mumbai for 273 to take the crucial first innings lead in their Elite Group A Ranji Trophy game in Pune.

Mumbai, who resumed on the penultimate day at 196 for six, had their hopes on stand-in skipper Siddhesh Lad, who was unbeaten on 70.

But the right-handed batsman could add only 23 runs to his overnight tally before being caught by Rohit Motani off Samad Fallah.

Young Shubham Ranjane finished unbeaten on 54, but lacked support from the other end as wickets kept tumbling and Mumbai fell well short of the hosts' tally of 352.

For the hosts, Ashay Palkar (4-62) and left-arm medium pacer Samad Fallah (3-55) were the main wicket takers.

Mumbai fought back to reduce Maharashtra to 112 for five at close of play at the MCA Stadium in Gahunje.

Skipper Rahul Tripathi (13 not out) and Saytajeet Bachhav (3 not out) were the two batsmen at stumps for Maharashtra, whose overall lead was 191.

Meanwhile, at Rajkot hosts Saurashtra rode on a splendid performance of their bowlers to defeat Karnataka by 87 runs and took six points.

At Vadodara, hosts Baroda defeated Chhattisgarh by nine wickets to fetch 6 points.

At Valsad, centuries by wicketkeeper Nitin Bhille (116) and Mahesh Rawat(119 not out) helped Railways overhaul Gujarat's first innings total of 367 and take the lead.

Brief scores:

At Pune: Maharashtra 352 and 112/5 (Chirag Khurana 38, Swapnil Gugale 37, Shivam Dube 2-7) vs Mumbai 273 (Siddhesh Lad 93, Aditya Tare 63; A Palkar 4-62).

At Rajkot: Saurashtra 316 and 79 (Pavan Deshpande 3-5) beat Karnataka 217 and 91 (Karun Nair 30; K Makwana 5-28) by 87 runs.

At Vadodara: Chhattisgarh 129 and 283 (Avnish Singh 79, Manoj Singh 61) lost to Baroda 385 and 31/1 (Kedar Devdhar 25 not out) by nine wickets.

At Valsad: Gujarat 367 and 4/0 vs Railways 547/9dec (Mahesh Rawat 119 not out, Nitin Bhille 116; H P Patel 3-124).

Kerala face uphill task against TN

Kerala faced an uphill task against Tamil Nadu after being set a stiff target of 369 for victory in the Ranji Trophy Elite Group B match in Chennai.

The visitors reached 27 for one at stumps on the third day, with K B Arun Karthick (on 12) and Sijomon Joseph (1) at the crease.

Tamil Nadu declared their second innings at 252 for seven, riding on half-centuries from captain Baba Indrajith (92) and M Kaushik Gandhi (59) to set the visitors a daunting target.

The home team bowlers came to the fore to dismiss Kerala for 152 in the first innings in response to TN's 268 early this morning as the visitors could add only one run to the overnight score. Rahil Shah removed Sijomon Joseph (29) to finish with 4 for 32.

Left-arm medium-pacer T Natarajan ended with three wickets and R Sai Kishore had two scalps.

Tamil Nadu started the second innings in a brisk fashion as southpaw Abhinav Mukund and Kaushik Gandhi appeared to be on the lookout for runs.

Mukund hit six boundaries and looked good for a big one, before off-spinner Jalaj Saxena had him caught behind by Vishnu Vinod for 33,having added 55 runs for the opening wicket.

Baba Aparajith (4) didn't last long and fell to a catch by Vishnu Vinod of Sandeep Warrier.

Gandhi (59) was involved in a 78-run partnership for the third wicket with skipper Baba Indrajith, who followed up his first innings knock of 87 with another classy effort.

The experienced Dinesh Karthik, back in the squad after being part of the national T20 team in Australia, failed for a second time, caught by Arun Karthick of left-arm spinner Sijomon Joseph for 1.

N Jagadeesan (19) fell at the stroke of tea, nicking one to the wicketkeeper off Warrier, but the overall lead had passed 300 by then.

Debutant M Shahrukh Khan, who made a quick 34 to follow up his first innings knock of 92 not out, was involved in a 62-run partnership with Indrajith for the sixth wicket.

Kerala lost the experienced Jalaj Saxena (12) early in the chase when he gave a catch to Indrajith off Natarajan's bowling.

Brief scores:

At Chennai: Tamil Nadu 268 and 252 for 7 dec (B Indrajith 92, Kaushik Gandhi 59, Sijomon Joseph 4 for 51) vs Kerala 152 and 27 for 1.

At Mohali: Himachal Pradesh 390 (A Kalsi 82, M Dagar 71, Sandeep Sharma 5 for 101) vs Punjab 84 and 195 for 8 (Abhijeet Garg 48, G K Singh 4 for 43).

At Indore: Hyderabad 124 and 185 (Rohit Rayudu 72, Avesh Khan 5 for 30) lost to Madhya Pradesh 562 for 4 dec (Ajay Rohera 267 not out, Yash Dubey 139 not out) by an innings and 253 runs.

Rajasthan thrash Assam

Rajasthan pacer Aniket Choudhary grabbed his second five-wicket haul as the hosts recorded an emphatic innings and 43-run win against Assam in their Elite Group C match in Jaipur on Saturday.

28-year-old left-arm pacer Choudhary, who had picked up a five-wicket haul in the first innings, shone in the second innings too to return with exceptional figures of 5-40 as Rajasthan bundled out Assam for 174.

Choudhary ended the match with excellent figures of 10-78 (5-38 and 5-40).

This is Rajasthan's fourth win of the season. After bundling out Assam for 108 in their first essay at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Rajasthan had posted 325 in their first essay to take a healthy 217-run first innings lead, with skipper Mahipal Lomror hitting a stroke-filled 133.

Assam, who began the penultimate day at 109 for 3, slumped to 174 all out in their second essay, as Choudhary and other pacers T M Haq (2-44) and Nathu Singh (2-28) wreaked havoc.

For Assam, only Gokul Sharma (77) and wicketkeeper Kunal Saikia (49) delayed the inevitable. But after the duo fell, it was smooth sailing for the visitors.

Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh defeated Jammu and Kashmir by six wickets in Jammu as experienced Suresh Raina played a crucial knock of 66 not out in the second innings.

Brief Scores:

At Jaipur: Rajasthan 325 beat Assam 108 and 174 (Gokul Sharma 77, Kunal Saikia 49, Aniket Choudhary 5-40) by an innings and 43 runs.

At Jammu: Kashmir 290 and 111 (Saurabh Kumar 5-28, Yash Dayal 4-26) lost to Uttar Pradesh 188 and 218/4 (Suresh Raina 66 not out, Rinku Singh 42 not out).

At Ranchi: Jharkhand 172 and 288 (Saurabh Tiwari 132 not out, Ishank Jaggi 35, Rajesh Mohanty 4-87) vs Odisha 201 and 81/3 (Anurag Sarangi 41).